Vengence
by Julian Amici
Summary: Hinamori's journey through denial and pain a year after the betrayal of Aizen Sousuke. Acceptance is a long and painfull road, and not everyone makes it through. -on hold for lack of fan interest-


**Vengeance**

By: Julian Amici

Disclaimer: I do own Bleach, which is why I'm writing fanfics and you'll never see this in the actual show.

-chan, kun, san, sama: normal honorifics

-taicho: honorific meaning 'captain' (literally 'unit commander')

-fukutaicho: honorific meaning 'lieutenant' (literally 'assistant unit commander')

**Chapter 1: Fractured Soul**

"Hinamori, please, don't believe them, I want to come back to you, I did nothing wrong!" Aizen pleaded. "I never wanted to do all those things, if I hadn't stabbed you, Ichimaru would have killed me! I did everything I could to not hurt you too badly! Please, save me! I need you!"

Hinamori Momo ran toward the fading image of her captain, tears running down her face. "Aizen-taicho! Please, wait for me! I'm coming!" She was having trouble keeping her balance, continuously tripping over her own feet. "Please, don't leave me again! We'll go back to Soul Society and explain what really happened to everyone!"

The image of Aizen faded completely from view, and light shined from behind the young shinigami. As soon as she turned around, she felt Aizen's sword run her through, squirting blood onto his clothes and face. "There's no more need for you anymore, Hinamori. Thanks for your loyalty." Aizen's voice was cold and hard, his face betraying a small amount of amusement in a cracked smile. He eyes, however, showed nothing but disdain.

"No… why?" Hinamori managed to whisper.

"You've outlived your usefulness." He stated plainly. "I would make an excuse, but your life means nothing to me."

"No, Hinamori, don't listen to him! I really wanted to save you!" Aizen called out from behind her. As she managed to turn her head, a line of blood running down from the corner of her mouth, she saw Aizen, just as she remembered him, glasses on his face, tears running down his cheeks, running toward her. "I would do anything for you, Hinamori!"

"I really did enjoy hurting you, Momo-chan. I really did want to kill you. People who are so blindly loyal disgust me." Aizen twisted his sword, and pain shot through Hinamori's body, but she barely noticed it. "You're so pathetic."

"Hinamori-chan, you know I would never want to hurt you! I always respected you, that's why I wanted you as my Lieutenant!" The tears continued to fall down Aizen's face as he fell to his knees, surrounded by a white glow in a field of blackness. "I saw you had great abilities, and I respected them!"

"I saw your weakness, saw how I could use and manipulate you from the moment I saw you. I did kill all those people in Central 46, and I did want Rukia executed. If I had the chance, I'd kill that whore right now, and I would succeed instead of failing to kill a little whore like you." Aizen's face and body were bathed in a blue light, casting long black shadows down his form. The only other color on him was the red of Hinamori's blood.

"Hinamori, I never wanted to hurt you, I always wanted to protect you!"

"You surrendered yourself willingly to me. If I had had the inclination, you would have slept with me, with but a word from my lips, despite how you thought of me as a _father_." Aizen spat out the last word with obvious disdain. "As though I would ever recognize a whore like you."

"You're a good person, Hinamori, and I never wanted to hurt you. Ichimaru betrayed soul society, and Tousen went along with him, I was forced to go along with it! I love you Hinamori, you're like my daughter! You ARE my daughter!"

Hinamori lifted her hands to her ears and squeezed her eyes shut in a vain attempt to block out the voices of the two Aizens talking to her, still feeling the pain of the sword in her chest, though it seemed more like the distant memory of a pain, something that happened a long time ago. "Go away." She whispered.

"You'd like me to go away, wouldn't you?" Aizen asked. "I agree. I want nothing more than to be rid of your presence."

"No, please, don't send me away!" Aizen pleaded. "I need you, I need you more than anything!"

"Please, just leave me alone." Tears started falling down her cheeks. "Please, I just want this to stop. I just want to be back where we were before all this happened."

"You just don't get it do you, I'm not sorry for what I did." Aizen's voice held clear anger and disgust now, and was still ringing clearly in her ears, despite her best efforts to block it out. She still saw his face, despite her desperate need to keep her eyes shut. "If I could go back, I'd do even more damage. I'd really kill you, and I would have taken care of Hitsugaya myself."

Hinamori's eyes popped open, and she stared at Hitsugaya Toshirou's body, broken and bloody, on the ground, Aizen's sword through his neck. Hinamori screamed in terror.

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Hinamori sat up quickly enough to nearly cause whiplash. Her body was covered in cold sweat, and her entire body was shaking uncontrollably, as if she was extremely cold, even though the summer night was very warm inside her room. Her voice was hoarse, and she felt the tears running down her face. Suddenly, light filled the room as the door to her left slammed open. "Hinamori!" Hitsugaya yelled. "What's wrong?" He instantly froze when he saw how visibly shaken his friend was. He sighed. "It was only a nightmare, Hinamori. That's all. It's all okay."

Hinamori slowly turned to look at Hitsugaya. Fresh tears flowed down her face as she leapt on him. "Oh, Shiro-chan! You're not dead!" she cried.

Hitsugaya, torn between sympathy for the horrible dreams Hinamori had been having night after night, and annoyance for being latched onto, simply stood there, bearing the embrace, but not returning it. "No, I'm very much alive, and I plan to stay that way."

Hinamori's eyes opened wide, and she quickly composed herself, letting go of the small captain and scooting away from him. "Oh, Hitsugaya-taicho, I'm sorry. I… I just…"

He simply shook his head, kneeling down next to her. "No need to explain yourself. I think everyone understands what those kinds of dreams are like." He gave her a small smile, which he tried his best to make look genuine and sincere. Hinamori stared at it for only a second, before she started to giggle a little bit, her tears still running down her face. "You shouldn't make funny faces at me, it's not nice."

Trying to keep the expression on his face, Hitsugaya's brows furled. "What do you mean? I'm just trying to smile for you."

"Trying is the operative word there." Still giggling, she grabbed a mirror and showed Hitsugaya his reflection. His face looked very strained, the corners of his mouth uneven and quivering, as though he had never smiled before in his life. He had to admit, the sight was pretty amusing, but he didn't feel like laughing about it. "See?"

"Yeah, I get it." Allowing his face to revert to its usual uninterested look, he turned away from Hinamori. "So, do you feel better?"

She looked to the floor. "A little. Thanks."

Hitsusgaya stood up and turned around toward the exit. "Was there anything you wanted, like some tea or water?"

Hinamori simply shook her head. "No, thank you." Hitsugaya nodded and began to walk out the door. "Toshirou?" Hitsugaya froze in his tracks. "Thank you. For everything." He stood still for only a moment, as if to acknowledge her thanks, and then continued to walk out of her room, shutting the door behind him. Hinamori lay back down on her futon, trying not to think about the events that had transpired in her dream. The two Aizens had been a regular appearance in her dreams since the betrayal a year ago, but the scene of a dead Toshirou, that was new. Whenever she woke up, she could remember the past dreams where the two Aizens were arguing, and the evil Aizen calling her a whore was not uncommon, though the thought of sleeping with him, even when he was still around, was uncomfortable to say the least. The trouble was she didn't know who to believe anymore. At first, she had been steadfast in her belief that Aizen had done nothing wrong, and that it was some sort of trick, but the more she saw of the surveillance tapes, and the more testimony she heard, the more the opposing side had gained leverage. She wanted to believe in her old Captain, after all, he had shown her nothing but kindness. The idea of him being a traitor and a cold blooded murderer simply seemed inconceivable to her. He had been the kindest, most understanding man she knew. She wouldn't have put it past Ichimaru Gin to be a traitor, the man rubbed everyone the wrong way even when he was still recognized as one of the captains of the protection squads, and she hadn't known Tousen Kaname well enough to make any judgments about him, but from what she had heard from Hisagi Shuuhei, his Lieutenant, he was a good and honorable man, so the notion that everything was orchestrated by Gin was still very likely to her. She believed that the appearance of Aizen as the leader of the Arrancar was simply a diversion to the truth. To what ends, she didn't know, but it seemed perfectly logical to her. She sighed. "I've got to stop thinking about this. I'll find out what happened later. Right now I have to get some sleep." As she lay her head back down on the pillow, she realized she was no where near sleep. Sitting back up, she tried to shake the memories of the dream from her head, stood up, and put on her kimono, only bothering to put on the most basic obi to hold it in place. She got up and walked out of her room, silently, as to not attract attention to herself. As soon as she got outside, she allowed the cool night air to wash over her. It wasn't incredibly cold, as it was summer, but it was refreshing.

"Hinamori-san?" a voice called out to her. She looked over to see Kotetsu Isane walking toward her. "Hinamori-san, what are you doing up at this hour?"

Hinamori simply shook her head. "I just couldn't sleep, that's all."

"Another nightmare?"

She nodded. "Hitsugaya-taicho died in this one."

Kotetsu's face dropped a little. "They haven't gotten better at all, have they?"

Hinamori sighed and looked up to the full moon. "I think they've actually gotten worse as time's gone by. I just can't seem to shake them."

Suddenly, she felt slender arms wrap around her and Kotetsu's head lay on top of her own. "I'm so sorry, Hinamori-san. I'm so sorry about everything that's happened. I really wanted to help you through this, but I'm not any help at all, am I?"

She shook her head. "No, that's not true. I wouldn't even be able to get up if it weren't for you, Isane-san." The two stay there for a short while, Kotetsu continuing to simply hold Hinamori as they looked up into the sky. Hinamori began to notice how brightly the stars shined in the sky, even with the bright full moon right next to them, illuminating the ground with its cold, soft light. The rest of Seireitei seemed to be asleep, as the only light which could be seen for miles was the moonlight. Not a single light remained on in any of the other squads' offices that she could see. She guessed it was pretty late in the night, probably around three or four in the morning. The thought of fifth squad ran through her head. It had been without a captain or a lieutenant for so long, she wondered what it would be like to return to her duties, as she had been told she would be released to light duty next week. "I wonder what my squad will be like when I get back."

Kotetsu let her arms drop to her sides and stood back up, continuing to stare at the night sky. "There was a tournament to place people in the vacant captains' seats. All three squads have new captains now."

Hinamori shifted her gaze off the scenery and looked at the taller woman with a hint of worry in her eyes. "Um, do you know who my captain is now, then?"

Kotetsu simply nodded. "He was a man from my squad, named Sasoriba Kouji. He was 17th seat."

Hinamori could only blink. "17th seat? And he made captain?"

"Made Izuru-san really unhappy when he lost. He kept walking off the stage, muttering '17th seat' over and over again. It would have been funny if it weren't so shocking."

"Kira-kun…" Hinamori shook her head and smiled. "Well, at least I know he'll be strong, as Kira's no weakling."

Isane nodded. "The other two squads, fortunately, got much more experienced captains. Sasakibe Choujirou, Captain-commander's Lieutenant got promoted to Captain, and so did 11th squad's fourth seat, Ayasegawa Yumichica, to 3rd and 9th squads, respectively. I fear you'll have to train Sasoriba-kun up a bit. He's not used to having much in the way of responsibility."

She turned back toward the moon. "Well, at least I'll have something to do."

"You shouldn't have any problem finding things to do." Kotetsu grew a sly smile on her face. "You should have no problem at all."


End file.
